Contour
by chaoshead13
Summary: Eren has been in a cage for almost as long as he could remember - just because half his blood was what it shouldn't have been. All he has left of freedom is the reprise that killing the undead half of his own blood loans him. But when vampire Levi pursues him for the murders that he's committed, Eren questions which part is the true monster. Human or vampire? RIREN AU


CHAPTER 1: The yearn for freedom

Eren didn't really remember his parents. He remembered their kindness and smiles – the warm pats on his head. He remembered the smell of freshly baked bread when he had returned home from school when he was young – but Eren could never form in his mind the actual events that gave memories shape. The only memories that he could picture came after their death – of the villagers that circled him with knives and axes in their hands. How they had dumped pig's blood on his head, bucket after bucket, taunting him and asking: why didn't he drink it? Why did he not lap it up from the ground, lick it off his hands and face like the mutt he was?

Eren had looked at them with those bright green eyes of his that were blurred with blood and tears and told them honestly, just like any eight year old would. It was gross. So of course he wouldn't drink it. How stupid of them to think he would. Yet still, he asked them: why they were doing this? Why was his house was burning behind them? Where were his mum and dad?

And they laughed. They laughed and chortled and giggled.

Until Eren stood up and silenced them.

RIREN

Eren never really knew how to define freedom. He had once believed that 'freedom' was the air outside his his cage. But when he had stepped out, chains still binding him to his guard, his belief was quickly shattered – so he asked. What was freedom?

"It's something you can't have, Jaegar."

Eren leaned his head between the bars of his cage, staring towards the direction of the man sitting on a chair with his legs crossed by the door on the opposite wall: Jean Kirstein. One of Eren's routine guards – he didn't like him much though the man had the decency to call him by his name and have a conversation.

"I wasn't asking you, horse-face." Eren retorted, turning to a black-haired girl leaning against the wall beside Jean. "Mikasa?"

The girl with the red scarf and cold eyes was Eren's favourite guard to date – both for the fact that she always gave straight, believable answers and that Eren had known her since she was a child. He could still remember when Mikasa had first wandered down to his dungeon, wondering what the Garrison could have possibly be hiding there. She had been so small then, so unafraid. And though she had grown taller than him in the decade and a half since he first saw her, that fearlessness still remained the same. For that, Eren would remain grateful.

"I don't know the answer to that, Eren." She pulled the red scarf she always kept of her face. Eren had given it to her; it had been a dirty old thing that he had picked up on his few visits outside, but the girl treasured it dearly. "It's not something I can explain, you have to experience it for yourself."

Eren let out a groan at that, sliding to the concrete floor of his dungeon. "Well, I can't really do that seeing how I'm stuck fifty feet underground behind steel bars".

Mikasa began to walk towards Eren's cage, earning a shout of protest from Jean that was ignored. She pulled her scarf off, pushing it through the bars and onto Eren's neck as she crouched down to meet him eye level. "I'm sure one day they'll let you out indefinitely, Eren. They can't keep you here forever."

"Hell yeah, they ca-" Jean began to interject, freezing at the glare that Mikasa sent his way soon afterwards. The door opened to interrupt and reveal a blond-haired soldier- Armin Arlert, another one of Eren's favourites – carrying a tray of food. Eren's green eyes immediately lit up at the sight of him.

"Armin! It's lunch-time already?"

The blond-haired boy smiled at Eren with a nod of his head. "Yes, same as yesterday though – rice porridge and bread – if you don't mind."

Eren shrugged as Armin approached him, tray in hand. He opened a little slider at the base of the cage's door and slipped the tray in. Eren immediately picked up the bowl to slurp up the porridge.

"Eats as a pig as always." Jean offhandedly commented.

"Pigs are considered cleaner animals than horses." Eren threw back, earning a small chuckle from the blond-haired soldier. Armin sat down in front of Eren from the other side of the bars, opening a book as the green-eyed boy ate. "I found another book you might like, Eren."

Eren's eyes lit up again as Armin turned the cover towards him, reading it slowly aloud to supplement Eren's almost non-existent reading skills.

"The...Ocean...?"

Armin smiled. "That's right. It's this huge body of water that covers the Earth."

Eren's eyes widened as he bit into his bread. "Even more than the land?"

Armin nodded. "Plus it's really salty but fish can still live in it."

The green-eyed boy's eyes widened further. "But won't they dry up?"

Jean snorted. "As if."

Eren finished the majority of his meal, downing half his cup of water before going for the last item on his tray: a decent sized vial with red liquid filling it to the top. He popped the cork, swirling the warm liquid once before downing it in one go. Some of it dribbled down his chin as the sweet taste clouded his mind for less than second; he put down the vial, satisfied.

"Gross. Y'know it's only when you do that, that I get reminded that you're not really human. Anytime else and I'd think you were just some obnoxious criminal." Jean said, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

Eren pushed his tray back against the bars so that Armin could remove it. "Well, I can't really help it, did you really think that being half vampire did nothing for me at all, ass hole?"

The green eyed male wiped his mouth with his arm, removing any food stains that remained. He glared at the brunette still seated at the wall. Jean returned his glare but didn't say anything else.

Armin clapped his hands together to gain Eren's attention. "I have about six more minutes before I have to head back upstairs, do you want me to start reading the book, Eren?"

The half-vampire nodded, crossing his legs on the concrete as Armin flipped the book open and began to read. He rested his chin against his palm, closing his eyes for six minutes until the words stopped and footsteps retreated from his cage. He kept his eyes closed listening to the silence and imaging a world where salty water expanded horizons. It was all he could do in his dungeon when he felt that neither Jean nor Mikasa was really in a mood to talk – picture the world outside that he had never really seen, He had done it for the last...Eren began to count the nicks that he had made on the cement floor...one hundred years since the Garrison had found him. And it was the only thing he was really allowed to do until his next mission.

RIREN

"Hey, mutt!"

Eren opened his eyes, pushing his upper body off the wooden board that he called a bed. He blinked away sleep, squinting at the figure that was neither Jean, Mikasa nor Armin.

"What...?"

He heard a creak and his sight was blinded with white light as he saw a hand reach out at him. The half-vampire was yanked from his bed, chains snapping onto both hands and legs.

"Get the your lazy ass the fuck up. We've got something we need you to do." The man spat at him as he dragged Eren out of his cell and up two flights of stairs, uncaring at the small whimpers of pain that came from his limbs scraping against the rough cement. Blurred, he could see Mikasa and Jean following behind, the girl with murderous intent written in her eyes but unable to do anything and the horse with the expression horses usually had. Just more downtrodden.

Eren was thrown onto even more concrete, though this time he was allowed to stand himself up to face a series of men. He recognized them to be the highest order of the Garrison: the rank officers of the Vampire hunters. Or the military police they called themselves.

"Eren Jaegar, there's something we need you to do."

"Isn't that what you always drag me out for?" Eren snorted under his breath, though he paid attention to the speaking officer.

The half-vampire recognized the man who spoke to be Dot Pixis. The years had not been kind to the man since Eren had last saw him, already wrinkles were marring once young skin and his hairline was quite literally non-existent now. The last time Eren had saw him, the name Dot Pixis had belonged to a young man still fighting to rise up the ranks. How bright-eyed the man used to be, Eren thought, looking at the stone wall clothed in military attire.

"Sir?" the half-vampire lowered his head to his human superior, straightening his posture and putting his legs and arms together as he was taught. There was a murmur of approval at his act of subordination.

"We have information on a gathering of vampires that will be taking place exactly 72 hours from now. It will be located two cities over and we've estimated about thirty vampires will most likely be present."

Eren nodded his head in acknowledgement of the information.

"The plan is simple, we'll send you inside and your job is simply to try to kill any vampire you see on sight, do you understand?"

The half-vampire nodded his head once again. He looked up at Pixis. "And the terms?"

The bald man answered easily. "Five hours for every vampire you kill."

Eren's eyes widened in determination and he grinned, splitting his face with sheer blood-thirsty happiness. Thoughts of murder began to run through his mind – five hours for every kill.

Five hours of freedom for every kill.

Five hours times thirty.

Eren continued smiling. He was going to exterminate them all.

RIREN

"Explain to me Hange, why you fucking decided to throw this shit party in this big-ass house when we're supposed to be laying low for the next decade?" Levi growled at his brown haired companion by the doorway. Hange chortled, flicking her hair upwards along with her chin to look down at her black-haired companion. It wasn't all that hard though, given his height.

"Because, Levi, _darling_, it's Christmas and your two hundredth birthday! We should celebrate! Not have you sulk in the that dark cellar of yours doing who know what!"

The raven snorted at the woman's poor attempt of acting noble with her shit posture and expensive dress. He would never admit that she actually looked good the light-blue flowing dress; Levi would bite his tongue off before giving the woman approval. "My room is much cleaner than this disgusting place you rented." He wiped a finger on the surface of one of the polished wooden dressers in his room, a thick layer of dust coming off it.

"Disgusting," Levi commented, wiping his hand off with disposable wipe that he procured. Hange strode over to the raven-haired male, dragging him out the room despite his protests. She only let him go when they were out in the hallway, though she still pushed him towards the direction of the main hall.

"Two hundred years, one-hundred seventy since you've become a vampire and you still haven't found your mate, Levi. You're like the equivalent of what humans would call a thirty-year old virgin!" Hange laughed, slowing her stride so that she matched Levi's shorter one– a gesture that very much pissed him off and caused him to walk faster.

"Your point being?" Levi retorted, slowing down as they approached a spiral staircase that descended to the grand-hall. Hange turned around to face him as they entered the stair's balcony, revealing what could be more than fifty people below.

"I've invited human and vampires and alike, just for you, Levi!" She gave the shorter man a wink. "Who knows, you might be able to find your significant other tonight! And then you can drink to your hearts delight until he or she ends up undead like you!"

Levi shuddered at the crazy glint that began to enter Hange's eyes, he backed away slightly to no avail as the woman grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close enough to feel her breath on his face. "Their blood is really delicious, Levi! REALLY, REALLY DELICIOUS!"

Hange let in a staggering breath, her eyes beginning to roll up her head. Obviously she was thinking about the taste of Erwin's blood. Levi felt sick at the thought of the mess the two of them tended to cause when they became crazy for each other. Blood on all the walls and floors like a crimson orgy.

"It's unsanitary drinking from a live human being," Levi said. "You don't know where they've been."

Hange tsked, biting the nail of her thumb. "You're so picky! I've hand chosen every one of these people. They've been screened for diseases and everything."

Levi shrugged, descending down the stairs. "That doesn't say anything about their habits. If I see even one person exiting the bathroom without washing their hands, I'll be gone."

He heard an exasperated sigh as he continued down to the grand-hall. Hange knew that Levi had no intention of socializing at all, and she was right. The first thing the raven-haired man did was grab an unopened bottle of wine from the table and head towards the ledge of a tall window at the furthermost corner of the room. At the sight of some brat occupying it already, Levi grumbled – he wasn't about to let his chosen space of freedom go just yet though.

"Oi, brat!" he shouted at the figure of a gangly boned brat in a poorly fitted tuxedo. From the smell of him, the boy was human. The kid didn't turn to look at him – for some reason, he was too occupied with pressing his face against the window, peering outside at the snow or whatever was out there.

"Hey, you little shit, I'm talking to you!" Levi shouted again, this time successfully garnering the boys attention with a shocked snap of his neck. Wide, teal-green coloured eyes turned his way along with the boys upper torso which seemed a lot thinner than most boys his age – around the age 16-18 was Levi's guess.

"That's my spot you've taken." Levi said, gesturing to the ledge the kid was seated on. The teenager seemed dumbfounded by Levi's revelation but, instead of leaving, he just scooted over to the side.

"There's room to sit over there." He gestured at an ample amount of space beside him. "That should be enough, right? You're pretty small so I don't think you need much."

Levi twitched, a nerve popping in his forehead as he strode closer to the brat and picked him off the ledge by the fabric of his neck. He dropped the kid on the floor and proceeded to sit on the window space, propping his feet up so that his body took up the entire area. The kid looked slightly disgruntled and he glared momentarily at Levi before returning his gaze out the window from his place on the floor.

With a closer look, Levi could see that the boy's skin was a grisly pale shade as if he had hardly seen the light of day in his life-time. At the same time, his face was gaunt and the teal-green eyes that was very close to the colour of the ocean seemed to grey when under the shadow of his messy brown hair.

"Kid, where you from?" Levi enquired, thinking that it wouldn't hurt to know who the fuck the brat was. He could count this as socializing if Hange asked.

The brown-haired boy tilted his view to look at the raven, his interest seemingly peaked by the man.

"I don't know," he answered.

Levi's eyes narrowed at the reply. "The fuck do you mean, you don't know?"

The kid blinked at the rough response. "I can't remember."

Levi examined the boy's eyes for dilation, looking for any signs that he was drunk or high. There wasn't any. "What's your name?" Levi tried for another question. This time with a successful answer.

"Eren."

Eren answered without a single hesitation, showing no wariness of the stranger known as Levi. Nor any other emotion other than the wide eyed curiosity. Obviously the kid wasn't in his right mind.

"Alright, Eren. Why in shit's name are you looking out the window? There's nothing but snow outside."

"I haven't seen snow for a long time," was Eren's answer. This made Levi scowl even more. The first conclusion Levi made at the response was that Eren was from a Southern country that didn't have snow. But then the paleness of his skin disputed that – it was much too light. Levi was about to ask another question when Eren added another bit to his answer.

"Mikasa told me I'd see the signal from this window too, so I have to keep watch for that."

"Signal?" Levi repeated, the identity of this boy was making him uncomfortable, if it did not already did before.

Eren pointed to the bottom of the window. "A bright light is supposed to come from there." He raised his finger up slowly. "And rise up to the top and then boom."

The brat smiled. "Then I get to kill you all."

Levi put down his bottle of wine that he had forgotten that he even had. The kid's smile had twisted disturbingly; the grey-eyed man reached for the long-knife that he kept hidden in his suit's jacket.

"You better be out of your fucking mind and joking kid, before I slit that throat of yours." Levi threatened, his hand already tightened around his weapon. Honestly, he should have brought a gun, but Hange was insistent with her no firearms rule: she didn't want to scare the guests.

Eren didn't even flinch at the threat, continuing to watch the window until it lit up. A flare was rising in the sky and it exploded just as predicted, showering the room with blinding light. Levi saw the boy bite into his hand, his eyes changing as he did before the light blinded him as well. Eren used the opportunity to make his escape from Levi, turning towards the confused mix of vampire and humans.

It was a bloodbath after that.

The aqua eyed boy made his moves with fearsome agility, procuring a twin set of knives to slaughter his victims. One by one, they fell to their grinning assailant – his favourite method of murder being a simple stab to the neck – just one stab if they were human, and another one to the heart if they were not. Every animated living and non-living being scrambled to the door pulling and pushing it and trying every method to open the immovable door. It was a grand exit made with a mix of wood and steel, crafted in the 1800s and restored later on like the rest of the mansion Hange rented. No matter how much the people slammed their fists on it, it remained solid.

And with the way they crowded in front of the exit, they were like lambs to the slaughter.

"Five hours! Ten hours! Twenty-five hours! Sixty!"

Levi was able to locate Eren by following the loud counting that he made with every being that fell under his blade. When the vampire spotted the boy, he raised his own blade, dashing with pinpoint precision towards the murdering figure. Eren spotted him just before Levi reached and was just able to dodge a fatal stab to his neck. Levi's knife dug into Eren's shoulder, coming clean out of his arm as the boy jumped away.

"I was going to kill you last since you were the only one who talked to me," Eren said. "Not very many people do that."

"Oh ho, you really think that a shit-face brat like you could kill me?" Levi chuckled at the boy's brass before remembering just what the monster in front of him had done. Both human and vampire corpses were littered around him – all under the fault of the one kid with green eyes. His face immediately turned grim, his glare piercing into Eren's similar expression. Levi raised his knife, going once more for the kill. He was surprised when Eren lifted his arm – the same arm that Levi had just disabled moments before – to block him.

The raven had to twist away to dodge one of Eren's own attacks. At the corner of his eye, he saw Hange ushering the crowd away from the main entrance and towards the side. Levi remembered in passing that Hange had told him that she had rented a house with a secret exit – bravo for her, at least she could be sensible in some situations. Erwin was with her, assisting with the escape. He turned to Levi, with a shout.

"There are hunters outside!"

That was all Levi needed to know to understand. He locked eyes with Eren. "So you're with the Garrison, aren't you?"

At this point though, the brat was no longer paying attention to the immediate threat in front of him. His eyes were turned towards the escaping crowd and he seemed to have drawn the same conclusion on the separate exit. Eren began muttering under his breath with every being that seemed to escape from his sight.

"Fivehoursfivehoursfivehourfivehoursfivehours."

Like a mantra, Eren repeated the two words, forgetting that Levi was there and beginning to dash towards the crowd. Erwin steadied himself to intervene with the monster that was rushing towards him, but Levi caught up much more quickly, tackling Eren to the ground. The boy was still muttering to himself, something that disturbed the vampire greatly.

With the boy pinned, the first thing that Levi did was tear away the fabric around the injuries that the raven knew that he himself made. There was nothing but smooth skin – not even a scar. He flipped Eren over, using his weight on the boy's torso to keep him down and a grip on both wrists to keep him steady. The kid still smelled human.

"The fuck are you?"

Levi was torn between the decision of keeping the boy alive for further inspection or using the chance to slit his throat. He deigned on the first, though he was quite in favour of the idea of chopping the boy's limbs off so he'd no longer be able to move. That is, until Eren's attention turned to him again. Unable to move his arms and legs, the brat used the only weapon he had left to his disposal: his teeth.

With vicious abandon, Eren bit into Levi's forearm. It was enough to cause the vampire to flinch in pain, but there wasn't much Levi could do since both arms were being used to keep Eren's down. Blood dribbled down Levi's arm as Eren ground his teeth, biting repeatedly and constantly so that the vampire had no time to heal.

Levi grumbled at his situation, reluctant to have to use his own last weapon. But with the way Eren was gnawing at his arm, it wouldn't be long until it was down to the bone.

"You better be clean, kid." Levi grumbled as he leaned his head over and bit Eren right at the base of his neck. The surprise of the attack made the younger male falter in his own fury. Levi's plan was just to let the kid bleed out until he was too weakened to make any decent attacks. His plan did not involve drinking any of the kid's blood, cause who knew where he had been and Levi never drank from live victims. He was fine with the blood bags that Erwin got him from hospitals – because at least they were screened and tested for crap like diseases and pathogens.

But Jesus Christ, how could one person's blood taste like all of Levi's favourite things at once?

Levi took another bite, lapping and slurping at the blood that poured from Eren's neck. It was semi-sweet with slight bitterness that suited perfectly to the vampire's tastes. He wanted more and he would have had it, if the windows of the entire grand hall hadn't all broken simultaneously.

Hunters, seven of them – one for each window toppled into the room, all of them wielding guns. A dangerous situation for Levi.

"Eren!"

One of the hunters, a girl wearing a red scarf with black hair that matched his own raised her gun to shoot at the vampire while at the same time rushing forward at him. Levi looked down at Eren who had evidently passed out from blood loss.

_Oops, _Levi thought. He wasn't very worried though, seeing how the wound began to heal almost immediately as his lips left it. Levi still needed to figure out why that was, seeing how the boy still smelled very much human.

The gash Eren had made on the vampire's forearm had healed as well. All the hunters began to circle Levi, their focus on Levi alone proof that Hange and Erwin had made it out fine.

The vampire jumped off Eren, picking him up with ease and swinging his body at the red-scarfed hunter. She immediately stopped in her tracks to catch the boy despite the trajectory throwing her off her feet. The other hunters focused on the vampire, all of them raising their guns at him. He could easily tell that the majority of them were fresh trainees though – not used to actual battles at all. Levi used that to his advantage, glaring at them with such ferocity that even hardened soldiers would have flinched back. He jumped towards one of the windows to make his exit, the amateurs shooting him with aims that were far off mark.

The window that Levi chose landed him on the roof with a fine view of a front courtyard and a back garden – Hange really left out no expense renting the place. From his birds-eye view, he could see hunters swarming the grounds, waiting for vampires to rush out the doors to try to escape. They would wait for nought.

Levi wiped his chin with his hand, licking the last of Eren's blood away. It really was delicious. The boy was a mystery and the vampire admitted that it was a shame that he couldn't take the kid with him. He needed to punish the boy for the murders as well. But, with all the hunters gathered, the body would be nothing but a dead weight that would get him caught. And that couldn't be afforded.

The vampire pressed himself against the roof, under the eyes of the moon. There was no doubt that the hunters inside thought that he was long gone; outside, they probably weren't smart enough to survey the roof either. There was a high chance he'd be spotted though, if he left now. Levi pulled his suit closer to himself.

What a shitty birthday, he thought. He'd be sure to give Hange hell for it later.

RIREN

"Eren, why do you keep sucking on your shirt?"

The half-vampire had woken up only an hour after passing out, still dressed in the ill-fitted tuxedo that Jean had loaned him for the occasion. Transport was taking longer than usual in the snow and Eren was restless.

"Are you hungry, Eren?"

Eren looked over at Mikasa on the other side of the transport truck. She took out bag of blood from a cooler and handed it over to the half-vampire. He refused the offer, still sucking at a blood-stain on his dress-shirt. Mikasa offered him a loaf of bread next.

"Geez, Mikasa! I'm not hungry, really!"

Yet Eren continued to suck on the stain on his shirt. It was the blood that had dribbled onto him from that one vampire with the grey eyes – the short one, Eren remembered. The blood had long dried, but the taste of it, though subdued was still there. It was as if all of Eren's favourite foods had been blended together but all their individual tastes had remained, flowering in his mouth with every suck. It tasted like the bread that his mother made him when he was young, the candy that his father would sneak him right before dinner – everything that was tasty and warm.

Eren looked at the food and blood that Mikasa had offered him, his stomach grumbling a little though he really didn't feel hungry. Or rather, he didn't have an appetite for anything else anymore.

RIREN

Oh, I really should be working on my other fanfics. And essays. And studying for finals. But hey, reviews are nice.


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